Bio

Born November 11, 1974, Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio supposedly inspired his own naming by giving his mother, Irmelin, a sudden kick while she took in a DaVinci painting at the Uffizi museum. The mysterious Scorpio boy was brought up in Echo Park, a drug-dominated area of Los Angeles. Having known that he wanted to act from an early age, Leo attended the Center for Enriched Studies in Los Angeles and continued his creative education at John Marshall High School. While he appeared in a few commercials, educational films, the short-lived television series "Parenthood," and "Critters 3," the first role many may remember him in was as the homeless boy Luke in the popular TV series, "Growing Pains." Nonetheless, he made his breakthrough film debut in 1992, co-starring with headliners Robert DeNiro and Ellen Barkin in "This Boy's Life."

Leo on a Roll
The young actor's reel reputation soon skyrocketed, when in 1993, director Lasse Hallstrom cast Leonardo to play an autistic child, Arnie, in the screen adaptation of the renowned book, "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" Despite being a young nineteen, Leo's performance lead to a nod from the Academy with a Nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1994. By 1995, Leo was on a roll, joining forces with Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman in Sam Raimi's ode to the Old West, "The Quick and the Dead." He earned further acclaim for his performance in a disturbing and street-savvy autobiography by Jim Carroll, "The Basketball Diaries" and dove into yet another doomed man's shoes as the tormented homosexual poet, Arthur Rimbaud in the film version of the play, "Total Eclipse."

1996 saw Leonardo taking on another play adapted to film in Australian director, Baz Luhrmann's colorful, gritty and modern depiction of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Only a year later, Leonardo took cineplexes by storm as artistic floater, Jack Dawson in the year's most successful award-winning smash, "Titanic." The kid from the east side of Los Angeles would never be the same, earning superstardom as the film broke major records at the box office.

Leonard DiCaprio: Activist
Leo showed his gratitude for his success in the form of charitable work. He began by donating a state-of-the-art computer center to the new Los Feliz Library, re-built on the site of his childhood home, after the disastrous Northridge earthquake of 1994. Later in 2000, he would chair Earth Day 2000 and interview President Bill Clinton. The actor funneled his lifelong interests in the environment to create LeonardoDiCaprio.org, his foundation to heal and protect the earth's condition globally.

Leo Can Do No Wrong
In the late '90s and early 2000s, Leo earned positive reviews in Woody Allen's "Celebrity," teamed up with Gerard Depardieu, Gabriel Byrne, Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich for "The Man in the Iron Mask," shot "The Beach" entirely on location in Thailand and dazzled audiences in a leading role opposite Daniel Day Lewis in Martin Scorsese's epic, "Gangs of New York." Released at the same time was the product of Leo's joint forces with yet another legendary director, Steven Spielberg. In "Catch Me If You Can," a lighthearted and intriguing portrait of crime, Leo challenged Tom Hanks to catch con-man, Frank Abagnale, Jr. This performance earned him his third Golden Globe nomination.

The Leo of Our Lives & The Loves of His
Aside from his bustling film and activist career, Leo still finds time for love. In the past, he has been romantically linked to models Bridget Hall and Amber Valetta, and currently the word is that he is with Victoria's Secret sweetheart, Gisele Bundchen.

Leo: The Here and Now
Most recently, Leo has wrapped principal photography for "The Aviator," a biography of famed Hollywood film producer and aviation, electronics and casino mogul, Howard Hughes. "The Aviator" is Leo's second venture with director Scorsese. His co-stars include Gwen Stefani, Cate Blanchett and Kate Beckinsale, who play Hughes' Hollywood loves, Jean Harlow, Katherine Hepburn and Ava Gardner, respectively. Alec Baldwin also stars as Juan Trippe, president of TWA competitor, Pan Am Airlines.